Morris Runs Giants Into Playoffs Earn Home-field Advantage For Next Week With 28-10 Rout Of Steelers

December 22, 1985|by COULT AUBREY, The Morning Call

Little Joe Morris jumped into a class with O.J. Simpson yesterday afternoon and literally ran the New York Giants into the playoffs.

The little guy with the big moves ran for three touchdowns, was denied a fourth by a poor call and became the first back to rush for more than 200 yards against the Pittsburgh Steelers since Simpson did it 10 years ago in leading the Giants to an easy 28-10 victory that gave them the home field advantage for next weekend's wild-card playoff game against either Washington or San Francisco.

Morris was, in a word, sensational. He ran effectively to his right and his left. He exploded into the middle and cut back against the grain. He twisted and spun and pounded for yardage that didn't seem to exist, and when he broke loose for the longest run of his professional career in the second quarter he ran the final 50 yards wearing only one shoe.

No matter. Nobody was about to stop Joe Morris on this cold afternoon in Giants Stadium. He skimmed over the frozen carpet like an ice skater and the Steelers went home with a losing record for the first time in 14 years.

He was awesome . . . and a bit unhappy. He fumbled twice, and Joe Morris doesn't like to make mistakes.

"I'll never be satisfied with my performance," the 5-foot-7 four-year veteran from Syracuse said. "I made two mental mistakes that could have cost us the game. You can't afford to make those mistakes."

Pittsburgh center Mike Webster, one of three active Steelers who own four Super Bowl rings, saw no mistakes. He saw only "the best performance by a back I've ever seen. O.J. had a bigger game against us, but he got 88 yards on one play, so this is the greatest game I've ever seen.

"Joe had a whole career in one game. He was sensational."

Indeed, and when it was over and the Giants had 10 victories in a season for the first time since 1963, Morris had 202 yards on 36 carries and gains of 12, 11, 26 and 65 yards. He needed only 49 yards to pass Ron Johnson's season rushing record of 1,182 yards going into the game and picked up all but four of those on New York's opening drive of the day.

The Giants marched 71 yards with the opening kickoff to take a 7-0 lead, and Morris had 45 yards rushing on seven attempts as well as a 15-yard pass reception from quarterback Phil Simms. The offensive line gave him a crack and he did the rest.

"Joe is so quick that all you have to do is lean on your guy a little and he'll shoot by," said center Bart Oates. "The way we played in the first half took everybody by surprise, we were that efficient."

"It was our best half of the year," added guard Billy Ard. "We blocked well and they all ran hard. We didn't play too well offensively in the second half, but when you're up 28-3, it gets a little hard to churn out 12 and 13- play drives."

The Giants did that once after intermission, running 13 plays and controlling the clock for 8 minutes and 4 seconds, but they came away without points when an official ruled that Morris had been stopped short of the goal line. Replays showed him lying in the end zone.

"I thought I was in, but the official made the call and you have to live with it," Morris said. "In this game officials make a lot of calls."

The Giants did all of their scoring in the first half, when Morris gained 153 yards and scored three touchdowns on only 21 carries. He made it 14-3 early in the second period when he cut back to the left as his blockers moved right and outran Donnie Shell to the end zone after losing his right shoe at midfield.

He then scored his third touchdown of the day - the fourth time he's scored that many in a game this season - from the six-inch line with exactly seven minutes left before intermission.

Simms, who spent most of the day handing off to Morris, Rob Carpenter and George Adams and threw only 16 passes, connected with Bobby Johnson for a 23- yard touchdown with 4:06 to go in the half.

"I didn't think we'd run as much as we did, but we ran pretty well against them in the preseason game, so I'm not really surprised," Morris said. "We're a lot more confident in our running game this year. The blocking is much better."

The Giants ran the ball 53 times for 289 yards. Carpenter, not to be outdone by Morris's long run, broke a 46-yarder that set up the third touchdown. It was his longest run from scrimmage as a Giant.

"They (Pittsburgh) run the ball well, so we had to beat them at their own game," Carpenter said. "The line did as good a job as I've seen all year."

"We played pretty well all around, had good balance," said linebacker Harry Carson. "I'm happy we're in the playoffs. Last year was a good experience, and even though we lost, we learned that we can beat anybody.

"We're going to celebrate Christmas in February some time. That's how we're looking at it. We expect to keep on winning."

If the linemen can continue to give Joe Morris those little cracks to run through, they might be the surprise team of the tournament. He may be physically small, but he's a real Giant.